How often to upgrade your resume

A resume is the first touch-point between you and your recruiter. Whether you're looking for your first job or planning on shifting to a better-suited job, your resume is one of the most crucial elements of your job hunt. Your skills and responsibilities change over the different stages of your career and as such your resume should be revised to aptly reflect those changes. 

So, how often should you upgrade your resume? There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. A student seeking a part-time job or internship should update it every semester, while someone in their mid-career with somewhat of a stable job description should do it every 12 months. This frequency depends on individual circumstances. However, it is considered wise to go through your resume every 6 to 12 months to check if it's still relevant.

In some cases, updating the resume becomes particularly important. You should update it when you:

1. Complete an important project

2. Get certified

3. Obtain a degree

4. Develop new skills

5. Get a promotion

Keeping the resume updated may seem unnecessary, especially while already holding a stable job with no intention of quitting. However, in the current unpredictable economic situation, an unforeseen downsizing could occur and leave even the most skilled people unemployed. As such it's a smart move to always be prepared. Updating the resume on the go not only lets you start afresh as soon as you're ready, but also ensures an overall better resume. This is because, as time passes, we tend to forget the specific details of achievements. So for better recollection, it's important to note down events when they happen. Having an updated online resume is an excellent way to brand yourself as an awesome candidate to recruiters who are prowling around the internet looking for interesting and well-accomplished profiles.

Even if you do end up retaining your current job, an updated resume is useful even for your performance review as it reminds your evaluators about all the things you've accomplished for yourself and the organization in the past year. It also creates a good brand for yourself in front of your coworkers which becomes all the more useful if you regularly do gigs or freelancing work.

In the competitive world of today, it is quintessential to always have an edge over the rest just to survive. A good resume will give you that. However, don't just write it once and be assured that it will always suffice. A resume is a work-in-progress and requires updating at every stage of your employment.

Adiba Arif is a junior at IBA, DU. Reach her at adibaarif.3@gmail.com.